Nice to see a balanced and respectful discussion on such a hot topic. Y'all made my night.

I lived many years in Atlanta, GA, where taxes were low, but public services were poor. Now I'm in Amsterdam, Netherlands, where taxes are extremely high, but the public services are excellent.

The way I see it, you get what you pay for, and that includes the security of a social safety net, as Nick explains. It may be 'big government' providing those services, or a private company (such as medical insurance), but as long as the service is well-managed and I get good value for my money, it shouldn't matter who provides it.

Interesting article, and thanks for clearly presenting both sides of the argument. DJH makes a good point about the ban - it should only be about sexual history, regardless if your preference is hetero or homo.

Of course, if this did end up on a ballot at some point, I'm sure the wording would be intentionally misleading: "Do you agree to a law that would make it easier for homosexual men to possibly put HIV in your blood?

Wow! I fondly remember building space battleship Yamato models out of lego when I was a kid, but mine never looked half as good as this!

I'm an American who grew up in suburban Pennsylvania. I had my first car (a big fat pickup farm truck) when I was 15 years old. Later I moved to Atlanta, where it is difficult to do anything without a car.

I've lived in Amsterdam, Netherlands for the last two years, and I have driven a car a grand total of 3 times since I've been here! I have a old rusty single-gear bicycle with a milk crate strapped to the front (for the dog to ride in) -it's the poor man's Bakfiet.

I'm absolutely in love with the Dutch cycling culture, and I wish it would take hold in more places around the world. Dutch people in general are fit, happy, and healthy, and I attribute a lot of that to riding bicycles instead of driving cars. I think there are basically 3 reasons why it works:

1. Dutch people have bicycling in their blood. Kids learn to ride bicycles just after they learn to walk (small wooden balance-bikes with no pedals). To this da, the Dutch are still pissed that the german occupants stole their bikes at the end of WW2 (never mind all the other Nazi atrocities!)

2. Lawmakers prioritize in this order: people, bikes, and THEN cars. There are just as many bike paths in this country as there are roads. Most urban centers do not allow cars at all. Parking is a nice to have, not a must have. (In contrast, in Atlanta several downtown bars were shut down a few years ago because they did not have the legally required amount of parking spaces - where's the logic in that?!)

3. As Zeytoun so aggresively mentioned, they keep bicycling fun and accessable to all. No helmets required, no fancy $1000 mountain bikes, no lycra shorts. Anything that even barely resembles a working bicycle is perfectly acceptable, and anyone is welcome to join in.

So maybe that's the recipe: more bikes for a healthier, happier population. Wouldn't it be nice if more cities/countries had the same approach?

Thanks for the lift, Wonder-Woman, but do you mind if I drive the invisible motorcycle next time? I think Superman was laughing at me.

"I eated kukumbr whole. Not feel so good now..."

"But... I don't want a pickle. I just want to ride my motor...cycle."